Pleated curtain glider unit

ABSTRACT

A glider unit for pleated curtain comprises a sliding carriage and a fastener. The sliding carriage has a female snap-fit portion provided at its bottom for engaging with the fastener. The fastener has a combining section for fixing with a curtain fabric. The outer edge of the female snap-fit portion is formed as an arc segment, whereby the curtain fabric can be compliant with the arc segment so as to form regularly pleated pattern and smooth fabric surface during the closing of the curtain. Two pulleys pivotally coupled by a shaft are respectively mounted at both sides of each sliding carriage for moving on a curtain track. A plurality of balls are disposed between each pulley and the shaft so as to facilitate the rolling of each pulley without much application of force, so that opening and closing of the curtain can be accomplished in less laborious effort required.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Fields of the invention

The present invention relates to a glider unit for pleated curtain, moreparticularly to a novel glider unit for pleated curtain that has theeffect of regularity in pleating, smoothness of fabric surface inpleating, and less laborious effort in the opening and closing of thecurtain.

2. Descriptions of Related Art

Generally, accompanying with rapid progress on technology and science aswell as improvement in living standard of people, requirement on livingenvironment quality is also gradually raised. In terms of accommodation,doors and windows are important items of housing equipment which notonly relates to day lighting and ventilation needs but also provideswindproof and waterproof functions. Hence, escalation on livingenvironment quality attributes to the good design of doors and windows,whereas curtains are used to cover the doors and windows, and also toprovide the functions of aesthetic, light-blocking and light-obscuring.As the tone, style and pattern of the curtain has direct impact onoverall effect of the entire home, curtains are naturally the focus inrefurbishment facelift. If curtains with different colors or floralpattern are altered in the house, they will tend to enrich the totalappearance of the dwelling place and to create the atmosphere ofhappiness in the house. Conventionally, curtains are hung on a curtaintrack. A plurality of glider units are slidably disposed at the bottomface of the curtain track so as to hold a curtain fabric thereon. Asshown in the FIGS. 6 to 7, in a glider unit, a sliding carriage (5),among a group of sliding carriages provided at equal interval on a cordbody, has pulleys (51) pivotally provided at both sides thereof, thepulleys (51) being mounted on inner sides of the curtain track (9) toslide thereon. A combining section (6) is provided at the bottom end ofeach sliding carriage (5) for coupling with a curtain fabric (7). Inassembling, a cord body (8) is used to connect a plurality of slidingcarriages (5) in series as a whole, and the top edge of the curtainfabric (7) is fixed on the combining section (6) provided at the bottomof the sliding carriages (5). In this way, when the cord body (8) ispulled by a user, each sliding carriage (5) linking together moves withits pulleys (51) rolling forward on the curtain track so as to bring thecurtain fabric (7) into opening or closing state.

However, as the outer edge of each sliding carriage (5) is a right angleportion (52), the curtain fabric (7) will abut against the right angleportion (52) of each sliding carriage (5) when the curtain fabric (7) isopened to form pleats in practical implementation. Thus, failing to havea smooth pleated arc formed thereon, the curtain fabric (7) is formedwith a protruding portion (71) instead.

Furthermore, as each sliding carriage (5) and its two pulleys (51) arepivotally coupled together only by a shaft (53) and thus a surfacecontact is formed between the pulleys (51) and the shaft (53), thefrictional resistance between each pulley (51) and the shaft (53)becomes too large in usage. A user has to apply bigger force to offsetthe frictional resistance when pulling the cord body (8), so as to openor close the curtain fabric (7). Therefore, this will cause too muchlaborious to conduct the operation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The main object of the present invention is to provide a glider unit forpleated curtain that can improve the defects of conventional curtainfabric containing: pleating irregularity of curtain fabric which maycause larger volume; and more laborious effort consumed in operating thecurtain fabric to open or close.

The object and the effect of the glider unit for pleated curtain of thepresent invention can be achieved by the following skill.

A glider unit for pleated curtain, comprising a sliding carriage and afastener. The sliding carriage has a female snap-fit portion provided atits bottom for engaging with the fastener. The fastener has a combiningsection for coupling with a curtain fabric. The outer edge of the femalesnap-fit portion is formed as an arc segment, whereby the curtain fabriccan be compliant with the arc segment so as to form regular pleatedpattern and smooth fabric surface in the closing of the curtain. Twopulleys pivotally coupled by a shaft are respectively mounted at bothsides of the sliding carriage for moving on a curtain track. A pluralityof balls are disposed between each pulley and the shaft.

According to the glider unit for pleated curtain, wherein the combiningelement is a buckle ring for engaging with a corresponding buckle plug.

According to the glider unit for pleated curtain, wherein the combiningsection is a C-shape socket for engaging with a corresponding buckleplug.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective exploded view of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective assembly view of the presentinvention.

FIG. 3 is a sectional assembled view of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing the pleating state of the presentinvention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of another embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view showing the pleating state of a prior art.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged view of FIG. 6.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The technical contents, objects and effects of the present inventionwill become more apparent by the detailed description of preferredembodiments of the present invention in conjunction with accompanyingdrawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective exploded view showing the glider unit forpleated curtain of the present invention. As shown in the figure, theglider unit (1) comprises a sliding carriage (2) and a fastener (3).

The sliding carriage (2) has two pulleys (22) provided at its both sidesrespectively, the two pulleys (22) being pivotally coupled with eachother by a shaft (21). There is an annular groove (221) provided in theinterior of each pulley (22) and a plurality of balls (222) are disposedin the annular groove (221). The balls (222) are disposed to be inrolling contact with the circumferential surface of the shaft (21) sothat the frictional resistance between each pulley (22) and the shaft(21) is reduced. When each sliding carriage (2) is put in the inside ofa curtain track (B) as shown in FIG. 3, the sliding carriage (2) canroll smoothly within the curtain track (B). A female snap-fit portion(23) is provided at the bottom of each sliding carriage (2) and a groove(231) is provided in the female snap-fit portion (23). The groove (231)has an opening (232), with wider dimension at outside and smallerdimension at inside, provided at its bottom; and a circular bore (233)in conjunction with the opening (232) is also provided. Two stopportions (234) are respectively provided at both sides of the opening(232). Moreover, the outside edge of the female snap-fit portion (23) isdesigned to be a circular curve segment.

The fastener (3) has a male snap-fit portion (31) for engaging with thecorresponding female snap-fit portion (23) of the sliding carriage (2).

The male snap-fit portion (31) has a head portion (311) for fitting intothe groove (231) and a neck portion (312) with smaller diameter forfitting into the circular bore (233) after passing through the opening(232). Further, a combining element (32) for coupling with a curtainfabric (A) is provided at one end of the male snap-fit portion (31).

Referring to FIGS. 2 to 4, in the implementation of assembling, a cordbody (C) is used to connect a plurality of sliding carriages (2) inseries as a whole, and the sliding carriages (2) are put into a curtaintrack (B) fixed on the wall so that the pulleys (22) of each slidingcarriage (2) can roll on the inside of the curtain track (B). On theother hand, a plurality of buckle plugs (A1) are fixed on the top end ofthe curtain fabric (A) at equal interval. Each buckle plug (A1) isfitted into a corresponding combining element (32) of the male snap-fitportion (31). Then, the fastener (3) can be combined with acorresponding sliding carriage (2) by fitting the head portion (311) andthe neck portion (312) of the male snap-fit portion (31) respectivelyinto the groove (231) and the circular bore (233). The head portion(311) can be reliably fixed in the groove (231) further by the pullingdownward from the weight of the curtain fabric (A) itself and by thelimit effect of the stop portion (234). In this manner, the curtainfabric (A) can be hung on the glider unit (1), and pleat arch can besmoothly formed between two glider units (1) during closing of thecurtain fabric (A) so as to achieve aesthetic decoration effect.

One aspect of the combining element (32) can be formed as a buckle ringas shown in FIG. 1. After the combining element (32) formed as a bucklering is press-fitted into a corresponding buckle plug (A1), eachfastener (3) can be combined with the curtain fabric (A).

Alternatively, the combining element (32) can be formed as a C-shapesocket for engaging with a corresponding buckle plug (A1), whereby thefastener (3) can be combined with the curtain fabric (A).

Referring to FIG. 4, when the curtain fabric (A) passes over an arcsegment (235) formed on the outer edge of the female snap-fit portion(23), the curtain fabric (A) can be compliant with the curvature of thearc segment (235) so as to form smooth and regular pleating. In thismanner, a regular and smooth pleating effect can be achieved during theclosing of the curtain fabric (A).

Furthermore, as a number of balls (222) are disposed between each pulley(22) and the shaft (21) of each sliding carriage (2), the frictionalresistance between each pulley (22) and the shaft (21) can besignificantly reduced by the point contact of the balls (222) with theperipheral surface of the shaft (21). The opening and closing operationof the curtain fabric (A) can be conducted in less laborious and easierway during the pulling on the cord body (C) by a user.

It is apparent from the above structure and implementation, the presentinvention has the following advantages, when comparing with conventionalstructure.

1. By the fitting between the neck portion and the circular bore andfurther by the pulling downward from the weight of the curtain fabricitself and by the limit effect of the stop portion, the head portion ofthe male snap-fit portion can be reliably fixed in the groove.

2. When the curtain fabric passes over the arc segment formed on theouter edge of the female snap-fit portion, the curtain fabric can becompliant with the curvature of the arc segment so as to form smoothpleating. In this manner, a regular and smooth pleating effect can beachieved during closing of the curtain fabric.

3. As a number of balls are disposed between each pulley and the shaftof each sliding carriage, the frictional resistance between each pulleyand the shaft can be significantly reduced. Therefore, the opening andclosing operation of the curtain fabric can be conducted in lesslaborious and easier way during the pulling of cord body by a user.

The abovementioned description of embodiment of the present invention isonly for illustrative purpose, not for limitation. Variations andmodifications made without departing from the spirit and the scope ofthe present invention are still considered to be within the scope of thepresent invention.

Summing up above, the above embodiments of this invention can achieveexpected effects, and the specific structure disclosed herein has beenunprecedented in the same category of product, even has not been openedto the public before application.

What is claimed is:
 1. A glider unit for pleated curtain, comprising: asliding carriage having two pulleys provided at both sides thereofrespectively, said two pulleys being pivotally coupled with each otherby a shaft; a plurality of balls being disposed between each said pulleyand said shaft; a female snap-fit portion being provided at the bottomof said sliding carriage and an arc segment being formed on the outerperipheral edge of said female snap-fit portion; a groove being providedin said female snap-fit portion, said groove having an opening withwider dimension at outside and smaller dimension at inside beingprovided at its bottom, a circular bore in conjunction with said openingbeing also provided; two stop portions being respectively provided atboth sides of said opening; a fastener having a male snap-fit portionfor engaging with said female snap-fit portion of said sliding carriage,said male snap-fit portion having a head portion for fitting into saidgroove and a neck portion with a smaller diameter right below said headportion for fitting into said circular bore after passing through saidopening; and a combining element for fixing with a curtain fabric beingprovided at one end of said male snap-fit portion.
 2. The glider unitfor pleated curtain as claimed in claim 1, wherein said combiningelement is a buckle ring for engaging with a corresponding buckle plugof said curtain fabric.
 3. The glider unit for pleated curtain asclaimed in claim 1, wherein said combining element is a C-shape socketfor engaging with a corresponding buckle plug of said curtain fabric.